Mrs M. Coombes

Signed family name

Coombes

Signed given name

Mrs M.

Given address

Dalkeith NE Valley

Sheet number

155

Town/Suburb

North Dunedin

City/Region

Dunedin

Notes

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.

Mary Ann Seward was born about 1824 in Berkshire, England – the daughter of Henry Seward, a carpenter, and Elizabeth Ballard.

She married Charles Coombes, a currier, in Berkshire in 1844 and they had two sons before they moved to London where their next son was born and their second son died.

In 1856 Mary, accompanied by her two sons, sailed for Auckland on the Josephine Willis - Charles had presumably travelled earlier.

They settled, at first, in Auckland where their next two sons were born, one who died in infancy.

In the mid 1860’s the family moved to Dunedin and when Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living in Dalkeith, North East Valley.

Charles died in 1902 and Mary died on 27 August 1917 – they are buried together in the Northern Cemetery.

Her obituary said she “took an active part in religious and philanthropic work”. In the early 1860’s she “founded the Baptist Church at Caversham, and in addition was a constant visitor at the Gaol, Hospital, and benevolent institutions, where she ministered to the well-being of the inmates, and where her name became a household word.”